Ellen Swallow Richards 1842-1911: Ecological Foremother.

Most educated women (in the sciences and other fields) still have a hard time discarding the patriarchal socialization and pressures in their own fields which prevent them from seeing this extraordinary woman as an environmental pioneer and ecological foremother. Ellen Swallow Richards merits attention and respect as a foremother of what would become the environmental movement, perhaps even foreshadowing ecofeminism. Richards' scientifically-grounded environmentalism was the outgrowth of "Yankee frugality," of lessons learned as the classically educated daughter of a small-town farmer and storekeeper, of her exposure to astronomer Maria Mitchell as a role model during her collegiate years at Vassar, of her ongoing research at MIT in air, water, soil, and food, and of her work as an industrial chemist and women's educator. Her efforts can be compared to the efforts of contemporary women scientists and feminist scholars to reconceptualize the sciences. (LZ)